The woods around Fontainebleau have a reputation as one of the best places in the world to boulder. Thousands of sandstone boulders, with tens of thousands of boulder problems, scattered about a pretty forest that covers some 300 square kilometres. Fontainebleau also has a reputation as being a great place to take kids. That’s a … Read more Bouldering in Fontainebleau with a Toddler

“All the Grindelwald via ferrata are closed.” The woman at the tourist information office said these words in a firm, brisk tone that indicated that she didn’t realise that I would find them disappointing. I knew that there was a risk that the long, cold winter might mean that some mountain routes would still be … Read more A Little Bit of the Eiger – the Rotstock Via Ferrata

Month: October 2014

One of the things I like about bouldering is that it’s great when all you want to do is pootle. That’s all I wanted to do last weekend at The Roaches. I had a creeping cold that was developing a cough. The gritstone was green, wet and strong, blustery winds made sitting belaying at the top of a crag look a bit unappealing. So I spent my time wandering around the boulders, doing low-grade routes that looked interesting and weren’t so slimy and wet that my feet would skate off them. Moving at a gentle pace and just focusing on how to move on the rock really cleared my head and relaxed me.

To make the weekend even better, I got to see the inside of the Don Whillans Memorial Hut. I’ve been past that iconic oddity tucked into the rocks at the bottom of The Roaches so many times and wondered what it looks like inside. With some friends staying there, I got to see and it is an amazing building (particularly the kitchen).

In the end, the tiredness caused by my cold and the limited number of boulders sheltered enough that the crash pads wouldn’t blow away brought an end to my climbing on Sunday. I didn’t mind. I finished my lovely pootle by ambling off to the nearby tearooms.

Me climbing Left Arete on The Rippler boulder.

Boulders on the Upper Tier of The Roaches.

Me climbing Nose Arete on The Nose boulder.

Climbing The Bishop’s Move problem on Joe’s Boulder.

Climbers on the Upper Tier at The Roaches.

Me climbing the boulder problem Goat’s Gruff on the base of The Roaches’ Upper Tier.

Me climbing Pine Arete on Pine Tree Slab.

The Don Whillans Memorial Hut.

The memorial plaque in the Don Whillans Memorial Hut.

The view from the Don Whillans Memorial Hut.

The kitchen of the Don Whillans’ Memorial Hut, built among the rocks.

The Roaches.

Me making the first few moves on the Slab 2 problem on Blister Slab.

Me climbing Classic Arete on The Big Block.

Climbing Classic Arete on The Big Block.

Me climbing the tricky start of the Sail Slab (actually, it’s only the start that is remotely tricky).

In the year and a bit since Valerie and I became parents we’ve been slowly and carefully been working out how our young family can spend time climbing and walking. We started with visits to the climbing wall before moving on to bouldering and walking trips in which we stayed in hotels and hostels. Last weekend we took the big step of taking Leo camping for the first time. Although, to be honest, it might be more accurate to say that we took the baby step of taking him glamping for the first time. Read more →